Saturday, May 30, 2009

I scored these 1950's tumblers when I dropped my mother in law off at a charity sale this afternoon.

The woman who brought them said that they have been in the basement of her father's house for the past 40 years...she told me that if she saw me on the antiques road show with them, she'd be very pissed off.

I told her that they would be in my kitchen, and that I would be flaunting them in front of my friend Piika who is a retro freak like me.

I finally fired one last year.It took me 6 years to fire that woman, and it's made a world of difference in the workplace.One person can ruin the atmosphere, even if everyone else is relatively peaceful.

The first step in stopping this sort of person from taking over your work environment is by recognizing what they are.They are actually not the victims they portray themselves. They are fucked up individuals who bully through manipulation, and playing the victim...and this society, and it's laws support people like this to flourish at the expense of others.

"I try to pin her down to something more specific. Let's just do a sample day, I say. What about breakfast? Roth grimaces. "I hate to say this, because I think it's counter to what most people should do, but I never in my whole life have enjoyed breakfast. For me, it doesn't work as well as other things."

Right, I say. So how about lunch?

She squirms visibly. "You're taking me where I don't want to go ... What works for me doesn't work for a lot of people."

Well, you've said that, I insist, so taking that into account: lunch? Roth hesitates. "I discovered when I was in college that I work best when I get a workout in and eat after that. Sometimes I'll delay when I eat until I get a workout in. But I don't let a whole day go by without running four miles."

OK, I go on, but supposing you couldn't work out until four o'clock in the afternoon - would you not eat until after that?

"I might."

I look at my watch. It's 3.30pm. Alarm bells start to ring in my head. How about today, I ask. Have you eaten at all today?

I dunno.I would think that that it's a job hazard for a thief.Just like getting shot by a thief is a job hazard for a cab driver or convenience store clerk.Bravo to David Chen, boo hoo to the thief...and a giant GMAFB to the rules of law enforcement that charges Mr. Chen with more than the thief for protecting his business and goods.

(P.S.: The photo is not Mr Chen's store or thief. It's random from google images.)

Being a west ender, I find this petty, picayune, piddling about whether it's "the beach" or "the beaches" really the business of people who have little else to worry about over their Fair Trade Organic Roast, and Hoxton Tandem Strollers.

Being the west ender that I am, I'll still call it the beaches because there's more than one beach..duh.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Karl Lagerfeld is an "Unbelievable Narcissist".An ex-assistant has written a tell all book about "The Kaiser".I would love to read about the outrageous things this assistant must have endured under The Kaiser's reign of employment.

I imagine that he must have had to press hundreds of Karls' giant white collars and had to run ahead spraying the path in front of him with the scent of gardenia...

I was just discussing this with a client the other day.I won't shop at the supermarket close to my work.I've noticed that it's more expensive than the one close to my home. The market close to my work is busier with longer line ups, and less variety of items. Which is sad considering the people living there need the savings more than the people living in my neighbourhood do.

I understand that it might be more expensive to operate because of theft and security issues...but, I can buy a loaf of bread for 1.19, while my client will pay 1.89 for the same.

I have the option to say, "no, I'll just drive to the grocery close to home"...my client doesn't drive and is toting two children around in a stroller.To go to a cheaper market, a little further north would cost her time and frustration, as well as bus fare back and forth.

A couple of years ago, I linked to Vice Magazine's article about a "networking" community that only allows you into their membership if you're "beautiful".

The article was kind of funny, and makes the members who were featured look a little pathetic, and shallow. The comments are outstanding...and I got a big kick out of how this community was portrayed, and made fun of by the vice community.

I ran accross it again today, and found out through this article that Slice has done a series of reality show episodes:

"Each episode delves into the world of the vain, the egotistical, and the self-obsessed. New applicants are allowed in only if they pass the beauty test. We join them on dates---will they think their date is as beautiful as they are or will they be sadly disappointed?---go to Beautiful People events, and meet the ones desperate to get into this exclusively gorgeous club. Each week we follow those who have tried (and tried again) to get membership---but keep failing."

Because it's entertaining to watch people who think they're more beautiful than the rest of the population go about their empty headed business of looking for other empty headed people to build some sort of facade of what they think others wish they had.

Turns out that he probably still lives there. I can read between the lines.Because if he still lives in the house he bought in '62...it's the same house...and it's not on Jameson Ave or Beaconsfield.The one I drive by often...

A beach in Liverpool is home to dozens of stationary, zombie-like statues, all facing out to sea in various locations. To say it's a creepy scene is an understatement and one has to wonder just how many sunbathers have been forced to leave for another beach after being given the chills by these sculptures.

Angered that her local McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food "emergency." Latreasa Goodman, 27, called police to complain that a cashier would not give her a refund. When cops responded to the restaurant, Goodman told them, "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one." She was arrested and the Police pressed charges for misusing the 911 system.

I sympathize with the cause, being from a place that suffers genocide (...while the world has forgotten the minority in Kosovo...family members haven't).

I am behind their cause...I'm not behind their protest tactics.

However, if this community gets the government's ear, I'll lead the rally of Serbs to block the 401 at Dufferin (you know how we love Yorkdale), and I encourage all communities whose families are suffering elsewhere to choose a transfer.

When you board the Venice Simplon-Orient Express (VSOE) train, you feel as if you are becoming part of a glamorous history. This train, with its restored, 1920s vintage cars, is the world’s most authentic luxury train.

Click on the image to read more about the train and how you can book a trip...

Vanity Fair marks the 14th year of its gigantic annual Hollywood Issue, and thus the 14th year of Annie Leibovitz’s spectacular gatefold covers. These classic photographs capture Tinseltown talent and glamour like nothing else. Here’s a look back at all of them.

“The series “Little Adults” explores what it feels like to be a privileged child living in Russia, a country where its radical history and social hierarchy still rules their daily lives. It is the exploration of the recently growing society of the “Nouveau-Riche" in which little children have been raised to become the “Elite” and behave like little adults.”

Click on image to view the collection of photographs.They're really quite fascinating.

I was over at Jezebel when I read about Ayelet Waldman.I had never heard of her before, but she's apparently caught the wrath of UberMoms over her statement that she put her husband, over her children.

I dunno. I've known people who were raised by couples who were so in love and dedicated to each other, that their children felt a little orphaned...because let's face it, kids demand it all.There's that old adage that says that the best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

But, really...kids don't even care if you love each other, they just want their parents together. It isn't until much later in life that they consider that divorce might have been better all the way around.

Parenting is frustrating business, and you can't choose your childrens' personalities.There are plenty of women who prefer one of their kids over another. Women will deny it, but any child with siblings can name off mommy's favourite.

Women have been known to put men (and not even the father of the children in question) before their offspring, even while claiming that they don't, and at the same time scorning women who do. There's nothing women like more than pulling each other down over anything from parenting skills, or lack thereof to fashion.

Is it so bad to admit that you put your marriage and relationship with your life partner before anything else?Would partners like this be more united, and less split by differing on decisions in order to curry favour with their children, as the "fun" or "better" parent?

I watch kids playing their parents all the time..if there's a crack in the parents' relationship, a kid can work that shit into anything they desire.

Obviously, the argument is that this decision to put a man/relationship over children is often based on unhealthy relationships. Abusive and controlling men, and weak and/or abused women.Not all relationships that don't mirror our own are dysfunctional...

All relationships tick differently...and how you perceive someone's relationship isn't necessarily the way that it is. That's why that couple you thought were so perfect broke up, and that couple you thought would never make it are still together after 20 years.

The best thing in the end might be not to be so concerned with how others choose to live in their personal relationships and focus on our own.